Berkshire studies Planned Mixed Use District

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Berkshire Township’s Zoning Commission’s first review of an amendment to its zoning code allowing a Planned Mixed Use District along US 36-37 will be continued until the next meeting on May 4.

Members of the board had many questions about the density of homes in the development during the two-hour meeting Thursday night in trying to define the language of the amendment, known as Article 17.

“So a 1,000 (units) is what we’re looking at currently with the way this will be set up?” said Paul Disantis, board chairman.

The proposed change allows for multi-family dwellings up to 1,000 units mixed in with retail, office, warehouse, hotels and car dealership spaces. The amendment states buildings are not to exceed 45 feet in height except in two zones of the property where they can be built to 85 feet.

According to the Delaware County Auditor’s website, the 417 acres of land on both sides of Wilson Road and west of Galena Road is owned by Northstar Commercial Development LLC. Nationwide Realty Investors is the developer.

David Fisher, Nationwide Realty Investors representative, said one way to solve the problem of density was to add another zone to the map. “One way to handle this is to change the PMUD map,” Fisher said.

Other types of buildings and business permissible by Article 17 are:

• General warehouses and storage facilities with no more than 10 loading docks and not exceeding 100,000 square feet in size.

• Office flex space, which is defined as research or laboratory facilities that include ancillary space for clean manufacturing and assembly, wholesaling, showrooms, warehousing and distribution spaces so long as 40 percent of the gross floor area of any structure is for ancillary use.

• New car dealerships selling new and used cars whether on the same parcel or on two separate lots that are not near one another. Used car dealerships will only be permitted on sites not less than seven acres.

By D. Anthony Botkin

[email protected]

D. Anthony Botkin may be reached at 740-413-0902 or on Twitter @dabotkin.

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